58 pages • 1 hour read
Neal ShustermanThe Schwa Was Here
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Manny Bullpucky Gets His Sorry Butt Hurled Off the Marine Park Bridge”
Antsy lives with his Italian American family in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn. Although his given name is Anthony, thanks to his family’s Brooklyn dialect which drops some vowels and the “th” sound in words, people pronounced his name “Antny,” which got switched to “Antsy” when he was little. Antsy has an older brother, Frankie, and a younger sister, Christina. As a middle child, Antsy often feels overlooked. Antsy’s dad is an executive in product development at Pisher Plastic Products—famous for its popular urinal strainer. Dad brings home a life-size mannequin and declares it is made from unbreakable plastic. Frankie utters a skeptical cuss word and gets smacked by Antsy’s mom. Dad charges Antsy with trying to break the dummy. Antsy is proud to help; he names the dummy Manny Bullpucky—substituting the “pucky” part for the blunter part of Frankie’s word.
Antsy’s two friends, Howie Bogerton and Ira Goldfarb, help him test Manny. Howie throws Manny off a bridge while Antsy watches from below and Ira films the event. Manny lands on the rocks and loses his head. Antsy hears a stranger’s voice and, for an instant, sees Manny’s head hovering in the air, then he notices a boy holding it. The boy, Calvin Schwa, is thin, shorter than Antsy, and completely nondescript. Antsy loses sight of him even though he is right in front of Antsy. Calvin sits beside Antsy in science—though Antsy never noticed him. Ira knows rumors about the freakish Schwa, and how he supernaturally blends in with his surroundings, even changing his eye color. Manny’s head came off its socket—it did not technically break—so Antsy will try explosives next. The Schwa wants to watch, and Antsy and Howie agree although Ira votes against him.
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Weird and Mostly Tragic History of the Schwa, Which Is Entirely True If You Trust My Sources”
Antsy researches the mysterious Schwa. He shares his findings with Howie and Ira in the basement of his family’s duplex, where they hang out, play video games, and talk. Antsy sometimes feels like he lets his family down: He doesn’t get good grades in school, while Frankie gets straight As, and Christina also does well. Antsy’s parents expect his siblings to go to college, but Antsy feels they have different expectations for him.
The Schwa’s great-grandfather Schwartz and his family immigrated from Europe to New York. On Ellis Island, Great-Grandfather Schwartz had a heart attack and died before he could state his full name, so the family was registered as “Schwa.” Ira has heard darker rumors about the family. Ira says the Schwa’s mom vanished while waiting in a checkout line at a market. Ira also heard that the Schwa’s dad murdered his mom, hacked her into 50 pieces, and mailed a piece to each state. Antsy does not believe these stories because they would have been the talk of their Italian-Jewish neighborhood, but Ira says they happened before the Schwa moved there. Ira wants nothing to do with the Schwa.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Quantizing the Schwa Effect Using the Scientific Method, and All That Garbage”
In science, Antsy finally notices the Schwa sitting beside him. The teacher, Mr. Werthog, does not see the Schwa until Antsy points him out. When Antsy, Howie, and Ira meet to blow up Manny, Antsy muses that the Schwa is unintentionally “functionally invisible.” Ira thinks the Schwa is “weird” and “sneaky.” The Schwa, who is listening the entire time without their noticing, agrees that he feels invisible and sometimes wonders if he is actually there. They perform three experiments to test the “Schwa Effect.” First, they put the Schwa in a room with nine other students and ask others to go inside and count heads. Four out of five people do not count the Schwa. Next, they dress the Schwa in an orange sombrero and a Cats costume and have him sing “God Bless America” in the boys’ bathroom. Fourteen kids notice something unusual but cannot elaborate: The Schwa is barely noticed. Finally, the Schwa walks unseen through an airport security checkpoint, but he is observed when he tries to take a metal bar through the metal detector. This results in a security response and phone calls to parents, ending the experiments.
Antsy also feels borderline invisible, as if he is nothing special. The Schwa makes Antsy feel less invisible. Ira, in contrast, does not like invisibility. Ira likes that his video camera helps him stand out. Antsy learns that the Schwa’s mom is not in his life. When Antsy sees how great the Schwa plays basketball—the other team does not notice him until he gets the ball—Antsy decides they should capitalize on his invisibility. Antsy invents “Stealth Economics,” hiring out the Schwa to spy on people.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Making Big Bucks off of Stealth Economics, Because Maybe I Got Some Business Sense”
Ira and Howie are uninterested in Antsy and the Schwa’s money-making plan. Instead, Ira starts a film project and predicts any interest in the Schwa’s talents will not last.
Antsy and the Schwa, however, are successful. Antsy, as manager, arranges the Schwa’s jobs. Jocks pay the Schwa to listen as cheerleaders gossip about them. The eighth-grade student government puts the Schwa on retainer to eavesdrop in the teachers’ lounge. Most of Antsy and the Schwa’s money, however, comes from taking dares, like thumbing his nose at the principal. Antsy is proud when the Schwa suggests that Antsy has a talent for business because no one else thinks Antsy has any skills. Antsy and the Schwa become closer friends, but when Antsy asks about the Schwa’s mom, the Schwa will only say she “disappeared” when he was five and will not talk about it.
Wendell Tiggor, a thickheaded classmate, dares the Schwa to go into Old Man Crawley’s house and steal a dog bowl. Charles J. Crawley is a rich, old, socially powerful, cantankerous recluse who lives with a pack of 14 Afghan hounds in a curtained second-story apartment above his massive restaurant. Antsy knows that Old Man Crawley has a lot of influence because after some boys—including Frankie—egged his windows at Halloween, there were no eggs available in any local market for months. The Schwa is nervous about this dare, but $54 is on the line, and Antsy assures him that he will be remembered as a legend.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Which Is Worse: Getting Mauled by a Pack of Dogs, or Getting Your Brains Bashed Out by a Steel Poker?”
Sunday morning, a crowd of kids waits on the street outside Crawley’s apartment to see if the Schwa wins the dare. Antsy worries that the dogs may sense the Schwa and tells him to signal if he gets in trouble; Antsy will come help. The Schwa climbs a fire-escape ladder and enters the apartment. Antsy envisions what happens next. The dogs do not notice the Schwa. He finds the dog bowls, but they are nailed down. A dog suddenly reacts to him. Outside, Antsy sees dog faces vanish from the window and hears barking and shouting. The Schwa appears, hiding behind the window curtains. Antsy rushes inside, hoping he can distract Old Man Crawley and let the Schwa escape.
The dogs hold Antsy at bay as Old Man Crawley, in a wheelchair and brandishing a fireplace poker, advances on Antsy. Crawley is gray haired but has a firm jaw and looks strong. He is only in a wheelchair temporarily because of a broken hip. Old Man Crawley tells Antsy he has called the police and will prosecute him. Antsy explains it was a bet and tries to give a false name, but Crawley sees through him and his “wiseass” comments. Crawley notices the Schwa, who emerges from behind the curtains. Crawley speculates that Antsy’s bad “breeding” will lead to more arrests. This suggestion angers Antsy, who retorts that Crawley’s breeding is worse. Crawley sends the police away and decides to punish the boys himself. They must report to him after school to perform their unpaid “community service” or else Crawley will see that their parents lose their jobs.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
Antsy Bonano’s breezy narrative immediately draws reader readers into his colorful life and into the mystery of the Schwa’s invisibility. Through Antsy’s lively descriptions and “wiseass” humor, Neal Shusterman establishes Antsy’s character and those of the other primary personalities in Antsy’s world. In this section, Shusterman introduces themes of the Role of Family Dynamics, Building a Sense of Self, Being “Seen” and the Perceptions of Others, and the vagaries and Nature of Friendship. The motifs of the importance of names and language inform these first two themes.
Antsy’s Brooklynese accent, his casual confidence, and good-natured sarcasm characterize his narration. Antsy’s voice, both his dialogue with others and his internal dialogue, is funny and believable. Describing his brother’s cuss word—the inspiration for Manny Bullpucky’s last name—Antsy explains that he is “editing out the bad word here, on accounta my mother might read this, and I don’t like the taste of soap” (3). Antsy’s description reveals both his characteristic dialect and his wryly humorous way of alluding to his mom’s method of punishment. Antsy’s familiar, conversational first-person narrative style allows readers access to Antsy’s innermost thoughts and emotions, creating a personal connection.
Through Antsy’s eyes, Shusterman also establishes a strong sense of place, immersing readers in the sights, sounds, and smells of Gerritsen Beach, a real neighborhood in Brooklyn. Antsy’s use of figurative language, like his description of the Dumpster behind Crawley’s restaurant, which smelled “like a fish market on a hot day,” conjures vivid sensory images and grounds readers firmly in Antsy’s world (45). Readers envision the different cultures in Antsy’s neighborhood through his dry observations, like his explanation that Jewish and Italian cultures get along so well in his neighborhood because of “the way both cultures have a high regard for food and guilt” (11). The novel is, in some ways, a tribute to Shusterman’s own love of Brooklyn and family: He dedicates the novel to his grandparents “who will always be the spirit of Brooklyn” for him (np).
Antsy identifies with his ethnicity and family history. He recognizes his heritage: His Italian great-grandparents immigrated to New York much as Ira’s family came from Russia and the Schwa’s from somewhere in Europe. Similarly, Brooklyn is an intrinsic part of Antsy’s place identity. Antsy’s accent is “Not just us—it’s all a Brooklyn, maybe Queens, too” (3). These elements of culture and place add to the realism of Antsy’s character. Antsy’s descriptions of the various individuals who factor in his life, like Mr. Werthog, the science teacher with the unfortunate lip tic “(kiss)”; Ira, who aspires to be Steven Spielberg before he reaches high school; Howie, who is “about as creative as a bar code;” and the acerbic Old Man Crawley of the 14 Afghan hounds, vividly bring them to life for readers (17, 8).
Names and language play an important role in the novel, affecting the characters’ sense of self. Antsy accepts the linguistic shortening of his given name with some resignation, admitting that it used to bother him, but he “grew into” his name. The word “antsy” suggests fidgety, restless energy, and Antsy does confess that “it seems like my brain is always twitching in unexpected directions” (25). Antsy has trouble focusing on school—the only A’s he gets are in his name—and is awkward around girls.
The Schwa’s name reflects both his lost family heritage and his invisibility. His family name was shortened and altered when his great-grandparents arrived in America. The name change and death of his grandfather symbolically severed family ties. Also, in a neighborhood culture where family ties are important, the Schwa’s mother is not present in his life. Although the Schwa introduces himself as Calvin, a sign that he wants to be known on a more personal level, no one calls him by his first name. His last name symbolically conveys his disconnect from others: phonetically, the schwa sound is both ubiquitous—the most common vowel sound in the English language—and unnoticed, like Calvin. The Schwa’s invisibility reflects his social obscurity. People do not perceive him because he does not assert his identity. He stays in the background.
Antsy relates to the Schwa’s invisibility. He feels average and unnoticed. This feeling is reinforced by Antsy’s family dynamics. Antsy’s parents think his older brother is “God’s gift to Brooklyn,” and they lavish attention on his younger sister. They treat Antsy, though, “like an afterthought” (26). Antsy has a big mouth, but he also has a big heart and readers sense his vulnerability and wistfulness when he suggests that he is a “disappointment” to his family. When Antsy and the Schwa begin their Stealth Economics enterprise, Antsy for once feels successful and noticed, commenting “I was suddenly being treated with respect” (37).
Being friends with the Schwa, however, causes tension between Antsy and his longtime friends Howie and Ira. Ira, especially, dislikes the Schwa and urges Antsy, dismissively, to “forget this Schwa thing” (35). Ira does not want to be friends with the Schwa. He repeats negative rumors about the Schwa, intending to exclude and distance the Schwa from them. Antsy, in contrast, shows he is open to friendship by sticking with the Schwa. Their friendship is mutually advantageous: Both gain visibility. Antsy shows his loyalty to and support for his new friend when the Schwa is cornered in Crawley’s apartment; Antsy is prepared to take the fall for the dare. Ira’s unwillingness to include the Schwa in their friend group, however, foreshadows a rift to come.
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